Some 35.7 million miles from the Sun positioned between the Sun and Mars at a surface temperature of a low -297 degrees F (-183C) at night, and a high of 800F degrees during the day with no viable atmosphere or orbiting satellites is Mercury; how is it that the backwards retrograde motion of this miniature planet rotating on its axis every 56 days while orbiting the sun every 88 days can exert its powerful influences in our daily lives 3 times a year? Reigning chaos on the unsuspecting.
Coloring the numerous aspects of our lives it rules Virgo and Gemini dominating the intellect. It governs contracts and agreements, documents, oral examines, education, networks, ground travel, mass transit, automobiles, dealerships. Is it any wonder the Mercury auto dealership has been around nearly half a century, or is it merely a coincident?
In ancient Rome Mercuris/ Mercury was the god of commerce, science and messenger to the other gods due to his swift winged feet. The ancient Yoruba referred to that particular deity as Esu the divine messenger owner of the crossroads, the trickster; his planetary correlation was referred to as Makuri / Mercury. In the Norse mythology he was called Loki the mischievous trickster god of ancient Iceland and Norway; similar to the Yoruba's Orisha Esu of Nigeria.
Could we possibly conceive of a mischievous planet taunting us in our daily lives, is this why the ancients revered and respected these deities; fearing their; the affect of the planet appearing to move in a backward motion along the ecliptic in the opposite order of the signs of the zodiac raining down confusion and misunderstandings, accidents due to a lack attentiveness, mixed signals, miscommunication, delays, interruptions, missed appointments, deals and agreements fallen through. Everything that could go wrong; goes wrong. It was very easy for the ancients to believe it was the wrath of the gods, or their time to be out among the heavens being mischievous tricksters. Retrograde Mercury graces us with the opportunity to re-examine those things that should be reviewed, re-written, or re-submitted. Mercury gives us the opportunity to re-think pending issues, and be contemplative in our thoughts before taking actions as oppose to thinking of this period as a time of doom and gloom., So, from May 26 at 21:31 to June 19th at 13:06 Mercury will be retrograde, and the again September 24th at 22:50 to October 15th at 07:38 in 2008.
Mercury Retrograde Periods
Year From To From To From To From To
2009 11 Jan 1 Feb 7 May 31 May 7 Sept 29 Sept 26 Dec 15 Jan 2010
2010 18 Apr 11 May 20 Aug 12 Sept 10 Dec 30 Dec
2011 30 Mar 23 Apr 3 Aug 26 Aug 24 Nov 14 Dec
2012 12 Mar 4 Apr 15 Jul 8 Aug 6 Nov 26 Nov
2013 23 Feb 17 Mar 26 Jun 20 Jul 21 Oct 10 Nov
With this in mind we need no further fear the retrograde periods of Mercury. Residing in the technological age of computers we have access to maps of the heavens available to us through the World Wide Web, astrological software and a good ephemeris. Remember this planetary event takes place 3 times a year if we are astute retrograde Mercury can be complementary to us encouraging us to be attentive and review our endeavors with contemplation, instead of bringing disaster to our otherwise tranquil existence.
